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Another Study Finds Correlation Between Educational Attainment and Genetics

An international study that analyzed the genetic materials of around 300,000 individuals found a correlation between specific genes and a person’s overall educational achievement.

Specifically, the researchers found 74 genes that "are linked to a person’s education level, meaning these genes may influence how far you would go for your education or whether you attend university,” said I4U News.

This isn’t the first time genetics and educational attainment have been linked.

In August last year, a national study from a team of university researchers found through a study of siblings that individuals with a higher “polygenic score,” or possession of "identified genome-wide associations for educational attainment” were more likely to complete more years of schooling, said Phys.org.

Still, while researchers have continuously managed to identify some kind of casual link between genes and education, many are cautious to draw conclusions yet.

The researchers behind the study of twins "warn that the predictive power of the polygenic educational score is too weak to be used for individual clinical interventions, such as, for example, specialized coursework for a child with a low polygenic score.”

And one of the researchers behind the latest study, Professor Peter Visscher, said:

“Crucially, the latest finding does not show that your educational attainment is something determined at birth. There are many other factors that come into play," he said.

"But it’s an intriguing piece of puzzle and [definitely] opens new door for research.”